


falling is the only option

by pentateen



Category: GOT7
Genre: AU - from rich to poor, M/M, from roommates to lovers, i honestly don't know how to tag, jaebum is pining after jinyoung for a while, more tags will follow, pls bear with me tho, some side yugbam, stupid jokes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-07 00:36:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14659539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentateen/pseuds/pentateen
Summary: “But I love all of my clothes”, Jinyoung continued his crying.“And I am sure they love you too, Jinyoung, but they are literally our only source of income until we find jobs-”“What do you mean jobs?!”, suddenly Jinyoung’s outrage reached another level, making him hold his chest and having to sit down.--Or the one where Jaebeom and Jinyoung go from rich to not-so-rich and have to move in with Jackson and Mark who just simply didn't have any other option.





	1. In which four lives are suddenly ruined.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is my first time really posting on here (let's just...not count the times before, shall we?).  
> I have most of this planned out already, but not written down so, please bear with me, it will probably take me a good few days to upload the next chapters. I am a busy woman! That's a lie. Anyways!  
> Have fun reading, I certainly have fun writing!
> 
> kisses

_“I have never cooked a meal in my life and I wasn't going to change that. Like ever.”_

“We're broke.”

 

The words reached their ears, but their brains weren’t really able to grasp it. _Understand_ it.

 

“What do you mean?”, Jinyoung leaned forward in the seven million Won armchair he was currently sitting in, looking his father straight in the eye, confused, dumbfounded even.

 

“I mean, son, that we are out of money”, his father’s forehead was showing first signs of a sweat outbreak. A drop here, another one there.

 

“How is that possible?”, this was Jaebeom now, sitting next to Jinyoung in the other unnecessarily expensive armchair.

 

Now, the thing was that Jinyoung's father didn't really understand it himself. He was one of the most successful business men in all of South Korea, making deals literally while he was asleep. His wife was a brilliant author, best seller followed by best seller, and yet, here they were. Money gone, dept basically grabbing at Mr. Parks throat and nothing there to fix it. Except maybe one thing.

 

“We will need you to move out. This semester is already paid for so you will be able to attend university for the rest of it, but after that... well. If you can’t pay for it on your own, you will mostly likely have to drop out”, Mr. Park continued without answering Jaebeoms question.

 

“What?!”, the two young men stared at him, jaws dropped, and eyes widened. Like plates, the Chinese ones he had gotten from one of his dear Chinese friends and partners who would most definitely drop their friendship once he found out about the bankruptcy. Mr. Park gulped.

 

“We're sorry boys, but we won’t be able to pay for college anymore, nor can we hold the house. We will have to sell it all and even then..”, it was now Jaebeoms mother, Mr. Parks wife, who spoke. Her painted red lips were giving the boys a saddened smile.

 

“This has got to be a joke, mum, please”, Jaebeom pulled a hand through his carefully styled black hair, apparently not giving a single damn about the mentioned careful styling.

But judging by the look on his mother's face, this was not a joke.

 

“We will give you till the end of the week, boys. Please never forget that we love you and that we will do everything we can to get this family back to where it belongs”, Mr. Park got up from his chair, hands clasped behind his back, black Gucci suit fitting like a glove. Jaebeom and Jinyoung shared a gaze, knowing that they were supposed to get up too, but the minute they did that... this would really be happening. They would have to get out of the door and eventually leave this life behind, the ridiculously big office their father worked in every day, the two stories of bedrooms and playrooms and what not. All this luxury, the Jacuzzi, the balcony going around all of the second floor. The pool, the gym. _All_ of it.

 

 

Two boys left with basically nothing laid on Jinyoungs bed now, eyes facing the huge painting on the ceiling.

“So”, Jaebeom said after what felt like an eternity of silence.

“So”, Jinyoung answered. He already missed this bed, the silky bed sheets, Jesus, he would even miss that fucking horrible mosaic they were staring at.

His father had chosen it when they first moved in, something Jinyoung still didn't understand. This was, or had been, his room, after all. But he hadn't dared to say anything against the blue and yellow stones being hammered on his ceiling. Instead he had been staring at it every morning and every night for the past fourteen years. And now he was sure he was going to miss the two colors that reminded him too much of Sweden, fading into each other, trying to hug it out, but failing by just... not fitting together. Kind of like Jinyoung and his dad.

 

“What should we do now? Like, where should we live?”, Jaebeom brought the younger back into reality and the latter turned his head to his step brother, shrugging.

“Honestly, I have never cooked a meal in my life and I wasn't going to change that. Like ever”, Jinyoung placed his hands on his face, trying to hold back a big sigh, but it slipped out anyways.

“No, but really, Jinyoung, where the fuck are we supposed to live? And not to mention that even if we do find a place to live we still gotta pay for it”, Jaebeom sat up, chewing on his bottom lip. This really started to get more difficult the longer he thought about it.

“They are basically throwing us out with nothing.”

Jaebeom heard what Jinyoung said as his eyes darted through the room. The ridiculously easy solution was right here, and they had just been too stupid to see it.

“Why are we so stupid?”, he jumped up from the bed, and once on his feet went directly to Jinyoung’s walk-in closet. Jinyoung followed him with his eyes, hands now placed in his lap as he sat up. The moment Jaebeom came back with more than just a handful of Jinyoung's beloved clothes, he jumped off the bed as well.

 

“No way. We're not selling any of those”, he said, giving Jaebeom a look that basically called him a fucking idiot.

“Yes, we are. Do you know how much money we could make by just selling your overpriced scarfs from Burberry?”, Jaebeom threw some of those mentioned scarfs on the stool next to the walk-in closet's entrance, ignoring Jinyoung’s outraged gasp.

 

 

“Not that one!”, Jinyoung cried when he saw Jaebeom putting a dark blue Hugo Boss tie in the suitcase they had already filled with several items of Jinyoungs (former) closet.

“You can't keep saying that to everything I chose, Jinyoung, that is not how this works”, Jaebeom sighed, putting the tie on top of the violet dress shirt from an up and coming brand Jaebeom had forgotten the name of.

“But I love all of my clothes”, Jinyoung continued his crying.

“And I am sure they love you too, Jinyoung, but they are literally our only source of income until we find jobs-”

“What do you mean jobs?!”, suddenly Jinyoung’s outrage reached another level, making him hold his chest and having to sit down.

Jaebeom moaned and stood up straight, shooting his step brother an annoyed look.

 

 

After what felt like seventeen hours later, Jaebeum and Jinyoung had gathered all the things they could sell without losing a part of their soul (even though Jinyoung was claiming that he had, indeed, lost at least seven parts of his soul this day) and were now standing in front of the bed on which they had placed the items.

“Great. And now? Where do we sell it?”, Jinyoung asked while brushing a towel against his forehead. Apparently losing parts of your soul is hard work because he most definitely did not help Jaebeom go through their closets.

“We could always sell online. Or like try to find a shop that would buy them from us”, Jaebeom finally answered.

“Right. And what shop would that be? Do we just waltz into Gucci and say “so, yeah, our parents are broke, would you take back this shirt and, uhm, those slippers as well?”

“Oh, so you wanna sell the Gucci slippers after all?”

“NO! It was just an example.”

Jaebeom rolled his eyes and took out his phone.

“Let's just put it all on ebay. Maybe it will get sold faster than we expect it?”, the hope in Jaebeom’s voice was basically nonexistent.

Jinyoung let himself fall on the floor leaning against the bedrest and hugging his knees. His gaze was fixated on no particular spot on the light gray carpet.

Jaebeom looked up from his phone and immediately felt bad for his step brother. Even though they had both been rich their whole lives, Jaebeom had only become this level of rich once his mother had married Jinyoung’s dad. Before that, he had lived in a different house in a different part of town. Still not having to worry about money, but also not living in a three-story home with the best view of Seoul you could ever wish for. So yes, he felt sorry for Jinyoung who had lived like this his whole life, maybe not this exact house, but the same lifestyle. The expensive clothes, jewelry, the crazy parties, the champagne that cost more than some other people's rent.

Jaebeom sat down next to the boy who he had learned to love in these past 14 years of being stuck together because of their parents getting married.

He looked at him, saw how Jinyoung had his forehead pressed against his knee, his eyes closed and his chest moving steadily. Jaebeom placed his hand on Jinyoung's shoulder and squeezed it softly.

 

One thing Jaebeom had also learned in these past 14 years was that feelings were fucking traitors. Not only did they come and go as they wished, no, they also re-appeared whenever they felt like it. And so Jaebeom had spent all his teenage and some of his early adult years pining after his step brother who, of course, had no clue about what was happening inside of Jaebeom.

 

It might come as a surprise, but Jaebeom never told anyone about this, especially not Jinyoung whom he told everything, always. And for some reason Jaebeom still hadn't really understood, Jinyoung was never at all suspicious of him. Had always been okay with Jaebeom rather staying in his own room then sleeping over at Jinyoung's. Had always nodded and smiled when Jaebeom canceled plans they had made days ago.

The thought that Jinyoung might feel the same had never crossed the elder’s mind. Mostly because he didn't even want Jinyoung to like him back. It would have made things hella complicated and there was nothing Jaebeom hated more than that.

 

“It will be fine, I promise”, he finally said after a while and pulled Jinyoung closer to him. Jinyoung raised his head and looked at the older, a hardly noticeable smile on his lips.

“You always promise things you know you can't keep, hyung. Maybe that's what I love most about you.” Jaebeom felt his cheeks getting hot and he cleared his throat, taking his arm away from Jinyoung’s shoulder.

“Stop it, you know how I feel about you being so weirdly affectionate all of a sudden”, Jinyoung just chuckled at this, before turning his head back to the bed.

“I guess putting it online isn’t such a bad idea, hyung”, Jinyoung said and slowly stood up, “but I think I also know another way of getting rid of at least some of these clothes.”

 

 

Not even half an hour (and about 70 pictures) later, Jinyoung came back into the room, followed by a handsome young man with plump pink lips, silver hair, long black coat and shiny dress shoes on. Jaebeom was just setting one item aside to make room for another, when he heard the two boys enter the room.

 

“Holy shit, this looks like a battlefield”, the new addition to the duo stated as he spotted the mess in front of him with big eyes.

 

“A battlefield of broken dreams and sadness”, he added when he came to a stop, watching as Jaebeom took the next picture.

 

“Hey, Bam”, the latter said, while pressing the button to take a picture on his phone.

 

“How many items have you put on ebay, yet?”, Bam asked now, putting his hands on his hips, a slight frown on his face.

 

“None”, Jaebeom took the phone down and glanced at the younger, “I wanted to wait and see which items you want to buy.”

 

BamBam smiled.

 

“Well, let me take a look”, he walked around the bed, looking at the things Jb had put on the ‘already photographed’ pile. He took his bottom lip between his teeth and checked every item with a careful look, feeling the material and leaving Jinyoung and Jaebeom rather excited.

 

“I was wondering”, the youngest in the room said after a while, Jinyoung now helping Jaebeom taking pictures, “what makes you think I’m not going to tell anyone about this? About your family being broke?”, BamBam’s gaze met Jinyoung’s and the latter slowly widened his eyes, before he cleared his throat.

  
“Because we’re friends, that’s why”, he answered. Bam nodded, a small smile playing on his lips.

 

“I guess that’s true.”

 

Jinyoung couldn’t help but exhale in relief, putting his hands on his hips.

 

“Do you see anything that you want?”, Jaebeom placed his phone on the bedside table and licked his dry lips, looking at BamBam again, who was holding up a black Lacoste shirt. His lips were pressed together, and his eyebrows were furrowed. He slowly moved his head to the side and let out a slight sigh.

 

“You have a lot of pretty clothes, yes, but I don’t know if any of them are really my style”, he put the shirt down and looked at the older boys, his face relaxing again, “but, nevertheless, I think I’m gonna buy at least enough so you can pay for your first few months of rent. How about that?”

 

The thought, as generous of Bam it might be, did not make the boys feel any better. Yes, getting money was their number one priority, but Jinyoung had really thought BamBam would actually _like_ some of their clothes. And not just buy them out of pity.

Silently, Jinyoung and Jaebeom shared a look and concluded, still without any words, that this had to do for now. Pity money, as hard as it might be.

 

“I’m sure I’ll find people to give it to, don’t worry. It’s not all out of pity”, BamBam gave them a smile and they tried to smile back – but it didn’t come with much success.

 

 

BamBam was still around two hours later, the time nearing 2 am, the only source of light in the room being the laptop Jaebeom was currently working on, uploading the pictures of their to-be-sold items on ebay and checking for apartments on the side. Jinyoung was laying on his stomach, scrolling through job offers on different websites, while Bam was laying next to him, coat hanging over the chair by the desk and shoes neatly put next to the bed, also on his phone to send his purchased items to all his friends, asking whether they wanted any of them. His checkbook was carefully put back in his coat pocket after he had issued them a check worth of 10 Million Won, which would give them at least 3 months of rent if they were able to find an apartment in that price range. If you didn’t count the deposit they would surely have to pay, that is.

 

For a while the three boys were quiet, the only sounds being Jaebeom’s typing and an occasional exhale from Jinyoung who was still in a bad state, which wasn’t a big surprise after all.

 

What did surprised BamBam though was how calm the step brothers stayed. He had not seen them cry yet or scream in frustration, nor was anything torn to pieces. To him it seemed as if they coped by working on solutions and he was more than just a little impressed. If that had happened to him, damn, he didn’t even want to think about it.

 

“Guess what, it’s all done now”, Jaebeom leaned back and stretched his arms over his head, a yawn escaping his lips. Jinyoung and BamBam both turned around to him, Jinyoung giving him a warm smile.

 

“Anything in the living situation department, yet?”, Bam asked as he got off the bed and walked over to Jaebeom, shooting a look at the latter’s opened tabs.

 

“Not really. It seems like all the good places are either taken or way too expensive”, the oldest sighed, pulling a hand through his hair and letting it fall back on his mousepad. In this process, apparently, he accidentally pressed the left mouse button, leading the page to reload.

 

“What about this one?”, Bam leaned forward, Jaebeom was now fully aware of the smell of BamBam’s perfume, and pointed at the newest addition to the filter Jaebeom had used. And really, when Jaebeom looked at the screen again, he saw an apartment he had not seen before. He jumped up in his seat, making BamBam jerk back in surprise and clicked on the ad, his heart beating like a drum in a metal song.

  
“This is perfect. Gwanak-gu, two males already live there, we would have to share a room, yeah, but that’s bearable. Deposit would be 950 thousand Won, since its split in half, so 475 thousand each. It’s exactly what we need, Jinyoung”, Jaebeom turned the laptop around, showing Jinyoung, who was sitting at the edge of the bed by now, his found gold-mine.

 

“Well, what are you waiting for? Apply!”, Bam waved his hands at Jaebeom who rapidly nodded and started writing a message to the person who had put the apartment online in the first place.

 

“How do I start? “Dear, Mark Tuan”?”

\----

**14 hours before**

The line was getting longer the more he stood in it, Jackson felt like. He checked his watch again, 12:07 pm. Yeah, he was still on time, they were still opened for another hour so, actually, there shouldn’t be a problem.

 

But judging by Jacksons current record of problems – it wouldn’t be surprising if someone decided to rob this bank the exact second Jackson was at the front of the line.

He felt a vibration in his pocket and took his phone out, seeing a message from his roommate, slash, best friend Mark.

 

_Are you still at the bank?_

 

Jackson didn’t take long to reply.

 

_Yeah_

There were three more people in front of him and with every breath the nervousness seemed to increase inside of the Chinese boy.

 

_Just stay cool, it will all be good. The worst thing they can do is reject you._

Jackson rolled his eyes at the message.

 

_You don’t say. Why are you texting me anyways, aren’t you with them at the moment?_

With them. Them who had, just like that, decided to ruin his and Marks life.

 

_They just left. Can’t believe those fuckers actually found an apartment at this point in the semester. It’s even cheaper than ours and in a better neighborhood. Gosh, I hate them._

Jackson knew very well that neither of them could really hate their former roommates. Yeah, what they pulled on them was shitty and they could have at least waited until the end of the semester, but at the same time they kind of understood. Being a couple in a small apartment was bad enough as it is but being a couple in a small apartment with two other dudes? Yeah, that had to suck. So even if Jackson would try to hate them for what they did, it wouldn’t work. Their points were fair and the looks on their faces had been too convincing to be mad for long.

 

_As much as I hate the situation, I guess they kind of deserve to be happy._

“Next”, Jackson looked up and saw that there was no one left in front of him, meaning that it was him the lady had called for. He quickly put his phone back into his pocket, taking a few steps forward before meeting the lady at the counter.

 

“Hi, uhm, my name is Jackson Wang and I have an account here”, the lady nodded, typing his name into the search system.

 

“Yes, Mr. Wang. What can we do for you today?”, she gave him a smile.

 

“Well, I have a question and I hope you can give me a positive answer.”

 

 

The answer had not been positive.

It was an hour later, and Jackson was back at his and Mark’s apartment, feet on the couch table and a beer in his hand. Mark was seated next to him staring at the shut off tv as if it had the most interesting program on.

 

“We’re fucked, aren’t we?”, Jackson said after a while.

 

“We wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t bought that unnecessary fencing gear last year”, Mark answered bitterly. Jackson groaned.

 

“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?”

 

“Until we find a solution, you moron”, Mark sighed, placing his hands on his face. None of them knew what they should do. Until now they had thought getting a loan wouldn’t be that difficult, just getting a few more thousands of Won so they could pay rent without having to literally starve themselves. And then, once the semester was over, they would apply for a dorm, way cheaper and way less complicated than living in this apartment on their own. Yes, the possibility of them ending up as roommates again would have been small and it was very likely that they would have strangers in the bed next to them in the end, but, nevertheless, it was better than stressing over paying rent this high on time every month.

 

A knock on the door (or more like seven hundred knocks on the door) brought them back into reality. Mark got up, crossing their living room until he reached the front door.

 

“We brought snacks”, their two best friends and kind-of children smiled brightly at the older boy. Mark couldn’t help but smile back.

 

Fifteen minutes later, food was scattered around the floor and four grown up men were seated around it, one of them laying flat on his stomach, the others leaned against the table or couch.

 

“We could move in, imagine how much fun it would be to live together”, Youngjae sad while balancing a gummy worm on his nose.

 

“Yeah right. Chin-Sun would dump your ass the second you start spending one second more of your time with us”, Jackson commented and smirked at his best friend, who laughed.

 

“She probably would, yeah”, the smile he had on his face talking about his girlfriend was heart-warming. Jackson wanted to vomit right there.

 

“And Yug would never be allowed. Imagine his mother hearing that he’s moving in with the gay guys”, Mark rolled his eyes. Yugyeom chuckled.

 

“That wouldn’t be a good story to tell at church”, they all laughed at Yugyeom’s words and for a minute Jackson and Mark could really forget all of their worries. For a minute it was just the way it had always been, the four of them on the floor, eating unhealthy snacks (something Jackson would definitely regret in the morning) and talking about nonsense.

 

The only thing missing was the annoying couple that would join them when they would eventually come home from work or class. Brian most probably ready to fall asleep on the couch the minute his butt had hit the leather and Jae ready to shake his boyfriend awake once he started snoring.

 

“Do you really think you’ll have to give this up?”, Yugyeom’s head was leaning against Jackson’s shoulder and the latter smiled woefully, patting the youngest’s knee.

 

“We hope not. But the odds do not seem to be in our favor this time.”

 

It fell silent once again, Mark zapping through the TV, Youngjae chewing on his bottom lip while scrolling through his phone. Yugyeom still leaning against Jackson, this time slowly reaching for the older’s hand to hold it tightly in his own.

 

“You should at least try to put an ad online, hyung”, Youngjae looked at Mark who slowly turned his head toward the younger. His shoulders moved a little, insisting that he wasn’t sure if that would even make any sense at this point.

 

“Oh, common, hyung. What do you have to lose?”

 

And so the four friends started taking photos of Mark and Jackson’s apartment (after cleaning up of course) and finally, after half an hour, Mark uploaded the pictures to the apartment-search website he knew he could trust. He threw the phone onto the couch next to him, legs spread across the table, his back arching as he yawned, just to hear a vibration coming off his phone approximately two minutes later.

 

“Do you think it’s someone messaging about the ad?”, Yugyeom’s eyes widened. Mark rolled his in return.

 

“It’s 2 am, who would be looking at apartment ads now? It’s probably a classmate who forgot what the homework is, or something”, but when he got a hold of his phone and checked his messages, he was proven wrong. Apparently, someone was still awake, looking for apartments at 2 in the morning.

 

“Yo, guys”, Mark sat up straight, “isn’t there a rich heir or something called Im Jaebeom?”


	2. In which they meet for the first time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, yes, I am not dead. Sorry that it took me so long to update.  
> I am sorry if this chapter is a little boring, I promise the real action will start in the next one!

_“If he becomes your roommate, I’ll give both of you two weeks tops before you’ll be trying to fuck him.”_

 

“There is no way in hell that’s the same Im Jaebeom. Why would an heir want to move in that shitty apartment with you?”, Mark threw one of his fries at Jae.

  
“Why would you say something like that about a place you lived in for almost a year, dumbass?”, he said then and frowned at the older. Jae sighed.

 

“I’m trying a new way of coping with the fact that we’re moving out”, Jae explained, “the way contains telling myself the apartment was shitty to begin with and I should be happy that I won’t have to live in it anymore.”

 

Mark cracked a smile at that and Jackson couldn’t help but laugh, shaking his head at his friend. Brian, meanwhile, was checking his phone with a slight frown, which apparently no one noticed. Until someone did.

 

“What’s with the frown, BriBri?”, Jackson asked, stuffing some more of his sweet potato fries in his mouth. Brian looked up from his phone, glaring at Jackson for the usage of that horrible nickname and eventually handing Jae his phone.

 

“I guess there is a slight chance that it’s him after all. Read that”, he pointed at his phone screen and nudged his boyfriend afterwards, who cleared his throat and checked what was handed to him.

 

“Holy shit”, his small eyes suddenly seemed to be the size of a saucer, “Park empire goes bankrupt, poor investment leads to loss of money”, his gaze shot up to Jackson and Mark who were sitting opposite him. Both had stopped stiffing food into their mouth, Mark now staring at Jae with a look full of disbelief, while Jackson’s mouth was hanging open, some parts of his fries still visible.

 

“What does the Park empire have to do with someone named “Im”?”, this came from Yugyeom now who had been quiet the whole time they were eating, sitting next to Jackson and looking rather confused now.

  
“Park Eun Jung is married to Im Myung. Im Jaebeom is his stepson and one of his heirs. The other one is Park Jinyoung, but they don’t get along very well, if you believe the media. So that’s why Jaebeom is more known to be his heir, especially since he majors in business at SNU”, Brian explained and Yugyeom shared the same look as the two roommates next to him now.

 

“So that means…”, Jackson began.

 

“That this Im Jaebeom guy, could really be… _that_ Im Jaebeom?”, Mark finished the sentence for him and Brian nodded, taking his phone back from Jae.

 

“I’ve read about the bankruptcy this morning. And when you just mentioned the name, some bell started ringing in my head. I guess I wasn’t wrong”, Brian took the final bite of his burger, cleaning his hands with a napkin while chewing, “but don’t forget that we live in country were you basically have like, three last names. So, it could still be a different Im Jaebeom.”

 

 

When Mark and Jackson got back home, Yugyeom tiredly tagging along, Mark went directly to his and Jackson’s room to get his laptop.

 

“If it is what we think it is, we need to do research”, he had said, leaving Jackson and Yugyeom in the living room. His two friends had shared a look, before sitting down on the sofa and waiting for Marks return.

 

In Jackson’s mind, there was no chance it was really _that_ Im Jaebeom who wanted to move in with them. No, his stepfather most definitely had back ups for things like this, a cabin in the woods he had secretly let someone built, or a penthouse far, far away in Paris, New York or something like that. Yes, in the Chinese boy’s opinion there was no chance in hell this was him.

 

“What did he even write in his message?”, Yugyeom was leaning against the couch table, his phone in his hands and he looked up when Mark came in, carrying his laptop.

 

“He just said that he is interested and asked if we could talk over the phone sometime this week”, Mark sat down next to Jackson on the sofa and opened up his laptop. Next step: opening his browser and searching for “Im Jaebeom”.

 

Yugyeom stood up now, placing himself on Marks other side, looking at the laptop screen that now showed several pictures of the same young man. He was handsome, black hair either carefully styled to the top or hanging into his eyes. His shoulders looked broad and his body was perfectly fitted for the suits he apparently liked to wear.

 

“If he becomes your roommate, I’ll give both of you two weeks tops before you’ll be trying to fuck him”, Yug earned a slap on the shoulder by Mark.

 

“Language, Yugyeom”, he only said, not really able to deny the youngest’s comment.

 

Mark wasn’t blind, he could obviously see that Im Jaebeom was a sight to behold. But that didn’t mean that he would try to fuck him at one point.

 

“Who’s that?”, Jackson pointed at a slim figure next to Jaebeom in one of the pictures and Mark leaned forward a little bit, just to realize that he had no clue. Instead, he clicked on the picture that lead them to one of those ridiculous gossip websites. He scrolled down until the picture came up, finding a little subtitle underneath it.

 

“Park Jinyoung”, Mark read out loud then, frowning, “is that Park’s biological son?”

 

(He realized that that was probably a stupid question, considering Brian had literally told them this a few hours ago)

 

“Most probably, yeah”, Yug nodded, squinting his eyes together. Park Jinyoung was also handsome, just like his stepbrother, but while Jaebeom had this kind of rough, bad boy look about him, Jinyoung seemed softer, calmer, in a way.

 

Jinyoung had brown hair that he wore in a short haircut on his head. His eyes were brown, small and kind of catlike, especially when he smiled. There was one picture the three friends noticed, in which he smiled particularly cute.

 

“I think you should ask him to come over”, Jackson suddenly said, looking at Mark, “you know, just to find out if it’s really him. He could also take a closer look at the apartment.”

 

It was obvious that Jackson just really needed to know what the truth was, and Mark couldn’t even be mad or annoyed at that because he honestly felt the exact same way. And so, he took out his phone to write a new message to Im Jaebeom, asking him if he was interested in stopping by either today or tomorrow to come take a look at the apartment in person.

 

The second he had sent the message, he locked his phone and basically threw it on the table in front of him, heart beating as if he had just run a marathon. His mind was racing as well because he kind of didn’t know what he should do, if it was _really_ Im Jaebeom, the rich to poor heir he was going to see step foot in his apartment. Should he act as if he didn’t know him? With one glance at Jackson, though, he tossed that thought away – Jackson had never been good with subtlety.

 

 

 

Three hours later, Mark and Jackson sat on the sofa (Yugyeom had been kind of enough to leave), hands clasped in their laps and eyes fixated on one spot in the room. The spot being the two other boys sitting in front of them, practically in the same position as them.

 

To call the situation ‘awkward’ would simply be an understatement. Not only had Jackson called out “holy shit”, when Mark had brought their two guests into the living room, no, Mark’s dumbfounded look when he had opened the door for them had also happened. So Jaebeom and Jinyoung would have to be pretty oblivious not to notice that the two roommates very well knew who they were.

 

Jackson was the first to break the awkward silence.

 

“Alright, so. How about I show you the room you’d share?”, he got up from the sofa, giving the two stepbrothers a warm smile and waited for them to follow his lead. Quickly the two boys nodded and followed Jackson into the room that now was empty due to Brian and Jae’s rapid exit.

 

“You could choose between a bunkbed or two twin sized ones. There isn’t much space, so I’d go for the bunks, but I guess that’s up to you. Our former roommates had a double bed that, well, basically took all the space, so I wouldn’t go for one of those”, said Jackson as they stood in the small room with grey-ish walls. There was one window at the opposite wall, it was big enough to almost take over the whole space of the wall and it showed the backyard of the complex. A backyard filled with bikes and mopeds, some gardening equipment and what appeared to be parts of a car.

 

Jinyoung and Jaebeom shared a look, communicating through their thoughts once again, and finally nodded at the same moment.

 

“Can we see the bathroom?”

 

The bathroom was the door next to the bedroom Jackson had just showed them. The tiles were white, and the wall was the same, the shower was big and didn’t look at all as bad as the stepbrothers had feared. There was a clean toilet next to the sink above which hung a small cupboard with a mirror on the front.

 

It wasn’t bad, not at all.

 

“We saw the pictures and thought it was to good to be true”, Jaebeom said when he noticed Jackson’s confused gaze, “but as it seems, you weren’t lying. This all looks great, much better than we had hoped”, he smiled at the boy and the boy smiled back, a joyful and happy smile that made Jaebeom almost happy as well.

 

“Well, that’s great. Do you want to go back to the living room? I can show you more of the kitchen. Oh, and we have a really tiny balcony as well”, Jackson waved them to follow him and they did, taking in the narrow but long hallway again. Now that they had had an actual conversation with one of the people who would possibly become their roommate, all of this felt way more real, safer even. It felt as if this was an actual option and not just some pictures on a website they had found. Yeah, being here made them confident, somehow, that this whole situation wasn’t as bad as it had been made out to be.

 

So, they followed Jackson back into the living room, just to find Mark in the small kitchen that was only separated by a half-wall from the living room, brewing some coffee.

 

“Do you want some coffee?”, he asked then a small smile playing on his lips. Jaebeom nodded, while Jinyoung declined with an apologetic smile. He wasn’t very keen of coffee after the last finals.

 

The atmosphere was better than before, but the awkwardness still hadn’t fully disappeared. As much as the four boys tried to hold a conversation, it always got to a point where asking further questions would seem idiotic. Jackson and Mark obviously knew what the boys studied, not to mention where they had lived before. They also knew their reasons for having to move houses in the first place. And Jaebeom and Jinyoung didn’t know what kind of boundaries the boys had.

 

To be honest, Jaebeom was positively surprised by Jinyoung’s behaviour. Of course, the younger had manners and being rude was not his style at all, but he didn’t complain about any of this. Maybe, Jaebeom thought, he was keeping it all inside.

 

 

It was a few hours later when Jaebeom and Jinyoung came back to their, now almost empty, house. They found Myung in the huge entrance hall, a clipboard in her hand, as she shooed people around. It amazed the two how even now she still kept the upper hand.

 

“Hi, mum”, Jaebeom said, hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. Myung looked up, her lips forming to a smile.

 

The people around them carried framed paintings, some of their parents most beloved art pieces, out of the house and probably into one of those big trucks the boys had seen outside. Jinyoung and Jaebeom swallowed hard and shared a quick look.

 

“Hi, boys”, she responded with a smile, “where have you been?”

 

“We found an apartment”, Jinyoung answered her question and the sudden change in her face didn’t go by unnoticed.

 

“Oh. Already?”, she asked, dropping her gaze back on the clipboard in her hand.

 

“What do you mean ‘already’? You were the one who told us to get out of here by the end of the week”, Jinyoung frowned, ignoring the death stare he now received from Jaebeom.

 

Myung didn’t look up again. She was well aware of the task she had given her boys and it was hard enough as it was – being reminded that she had been a horrible mother out of her dear stepson’s mouth did not make it any better.

 

“Well, I’m glad then. That you found an apartment”, she just noted, before presenting them with a rather distant nod and leaving into the depth of the house.

 

“What the hell, Jinyoung?”, Jaebeom grabbed Jinyoung’s arm, but the latter jerked away and snorted.

 

“I didn’t say anything that isn’t the truth, hyung. So, what’s your problem?” Jinyoung folded his arms and stared at Jaebeom with raised eyebrows.

 

Honestly, Jaebeom couldn’t disagree with what Jinyoung had said. His mother had been the one to, basically, throw them out. So, yeah, Jinyoung had only told the truth. Still. It was his mother they were talking about, his mother that had raised him without any help, that had given him the best education and all the love a mother could give. So, how on earth, could he ever let anyone talk to her the way Jinyoung just did? Well, in this case it was an obvious answer. Because his mum in fact fucked up and deserved to be talked back to.

 

Jaebeom closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Let’s just go upstairs before I go insane”, he looked around, and saw two men coming out of the living room, carrying their mothers favourite golden sofa she had bought in one of those super artsy interior design shops. They were followed by yet another pair of men whom were carrying one of the armchairs, same shade of gold as the sofa. Jaebeom could only imagine how devasted his mother must have been.

 

Back in Jaebeom’s room (Jinyoung had been kind enough to let his father “get rid” of his furniture first and had slept in Jaebeom’s room ever since (so like the past two days)) they laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling, once again, this time with a slight different feeling to it.

They had found an apartment, but now they needed to find a bed (they had decided on the bunk bed on their way back) and at least one desk and closet. Jaebeom already feared the way their room would look once they had moved in, mostly because of Jinyoung’s clothes collection. Even though they had put a lot of it on ebay (and sold about three items already!), there was still so much left, Jaebeom wasn’t sure it was even gonna fit in the apartment itself.

 

Turning his head to his stepbrother, slash, best friend, he smiled, though. Because, even if it was gonna be fucking difficult, at least they were facing it together. Even if they would want to kill each other at some point, they would still find a way to fix it. Simply, because they always did. Simply, because they were Jaebeom and Jinyoung.

 

 

And so, the week passed, their house was sold, the stuff they were selling on ebay safely stored in BamBams spare room, and Jaebeom and Jinyoung went to sign the lease, Mark and Jackson all smiles next to them. Jae and Brian were there as well, fetching their last remains of ever living in this place.

“Well, welcome. I hope I wont regret this”, the landlord said with raised eyebrows after shaking hands with his new renters.

“Don’t worry, Mister”, Jaebeom bowed to the landlord, who just nodded at them one last time before exiting the apartment.

 

Now they were left alone.

 

“Well, that’s really it, I guess”, Brian shoved the cardboard under his arm and let out a big sigh, “can’t say I wont miss this”, he looked around the living space for a few seconds, before smiling at Jackson and Mark.

 

Jaebeom and Jinyoung suddenly felt weirdly out of place and silently decided to just go into their room to try and set up the few pieces of furniture (a bunkbed from a not-so expensive furniture place not far from here, a desk and lastly a chair, a closet was still written in the stars somewhere) they had bought, so the four former roommates had time to say their proper goodbyes.

 

“Come visit”, Jackson pulled Jae into a tight hug, making the visibly taller, but also thinner, boy squeak in response, “if you don’t come to visit us, I’ll be mad and post those pictures of you I took last summer on Facebook”, Jae’s eyes darted to Brian, who laughed and shrugged Jackson’s empty thread of, before hugging Mark with the one free arm he had left.

 

“I’m sure the people will be more concerned as to why you even took them, instead of running away”, Mark laughed at Brian’s words and hugged him back, glad that his normally so teary eyes stayed try for now.

 

“We’ll miss you, guys”, he then said after parting from Brian, “but I am also happy for you. I don’t think there is anyone who deserves to be happy as much as you do”, he smiled at the couple that was now getting fully ready to leave, coats on and shoes almost back on their feet.

 

Brian and Jackson hugged and so did Mark and Jae and then, after a final goodbye and a quick ‘thank you’ from the now moving-on-to-another-chapter-in-life boys, Mark closed the door and sighed, leaning against it and biting his lip. It felt like the end of an era, somehow. He and Jackson knew that there was no chance living with the two newcomers could be even half as fun as it had been with Brian and Jae – but, after all, there had been a two-year friendship prior to the moving in together. So, they really couldn’t blame Jaebeom and Jinyoung. The most important part was that they could stay here and didn’t have to stress about finding a new place or finding three more part time jobs, so they could actually stay here just as the two of them.

 

 

 

Most of Jinyoung’s friend were the children of his father’s partners, slash, colleagues. When you went to a high society kind of high school that cost more than some other colleges tuition – well, you kind of only have _those_ kinds of friends. It might sound odd, but for Jinyoung, making friends was pretty difficult. Jaebeom, on the other hand, had refused to go to that preppy school because he really wanted to attend the same school as his best friend Sungjin (they would later on have a fight and never speak to each other again), and was rather good at approaching people.

 

Well, now high school was long over, and college was starting to get more and more time-consuming, which made finding friends rather difficult, not only for Jinyoung. Not to mention that with their sudden downfall in society, all of those “friends” they had made due to status, would be gone as fast as they had come.

 

All in all, yeah, Jinyoung and Jaebeom only had each other (and BamBam, but he is a whole different story for another time), but after all that had happened last week, there was no chance in hell their old friends would still stick with them. Meaning, that especially for Jinyoung, moving in with two strangers was a whole new challenge and he wasn’t sure if he was fully ready for it.

 

“No, this one goes there”, Jinyoung instructed Jaebeom, who was on his knees, trying to figure out how the bedframe was put together. They (or more like…he) had already finished one half, now the other one needed to be attached as well.

 

“You know, if you helped me instead of just reading the manual, we would have been done with this twenty minutes ago”, Jaebeom gave Jinyoung a judging look, then he continued with his work. But Jinyoung was so lost in the manual and his own thoughts, that he didn’t even hear the older.

 

“Do you think it will be alright?”, Jinyoung asked after a short while of just Jaebeom’s exhausted sighing and the wood meeting wood.

 

“Yes, I am sure I will eventually finish this, but like I said, Jinyoung, if you helped me-“

 

“Not this bed”, Jinyoung interrupted him, “all of this. Us living here. Us having to find jobs and be responsible for ourselves. I have never lived alone, nor ever even cooked for myself or earned my own money, what if I just fail, like, completely? What will happen then? Will we have to live on the streets, I-“, he stopped midsentence, a knot building inside his throat. Did he finally got the point where he could cry about the way he felt? About how empty and scared he felt?

 

Jaebeom had slowly looked up as he had listened to Jinyoung’s little outburst and now he was standing up, wiping his sweaty forehead with his hand and walking over to the younger, placing both of his hands on Jinyoung’s shoulders.

 

“Hey, hey”, he started, looking at him and raising a hand to carefully wipe the hair out of Jinyoung’s face, “I won’t let you fail. Your success is my success and the other way around. We’re in this together, Jinyoung, we will fall together if we must, if this whole thing doesn’t work out. But that would be okay, because we still have each other”, finally, a tear escaped Jinyoung and it was followed by a lot more. So, Jaebeom pulled him into a hug, resting his head on Jinyoung’s shoulder and breathing in his smell of something like mint toothpaste and his perfume.

 

“Thank you, hyung”, Jinyoung whispered into his ear now and Jaebeom was thrown back into reality. The reality in which this was still the person he had grown up with, who should be like a brother to him, but just… wasn’t.

 

They broke apart and Jinyoung wiped his face, shaking his head and letting out a sigh.

“Common, let’s do this. If we continue at this pace, we won’t have anywhere to sleep tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> really, there will be more action in the next one.  
> absjhasf.


End file.
